Letter: Older drivers should be tested
Detectives are investigating the death of Anne Murray who was pulled from a submerged car near a Town of Brookhaven boat ramp in Port Jefferson, Suffolk County police said. (May 10, 2012) Credit: Handout; James Carbone
The family of the 87-year-old woman who died after driving her car into Port Jefferson Harbor said her vision had been deteriorating ["She dies in sunken car," News, May 11]. Why was she driving?
According to our government census site, in 2009 18 percent of car accidents were caused by 19- to 24-year-olds, but a stunning 31.4 percent were caused by drivers age 55 and up. The quality of our driving skills over time looks like a bell curve, with a dramatic leap off the older end.
Unfortunately Long Island's public transportation dwindles to a trickle as you head east from New York City. If you're someone who can't or won't drive, it's extremely difficult to get around. This puts more drivers on the road who don't belong there.
At age 60, people should have to go in for a driver's test every 5 years until 70, and then every 3 years thereafter.
No one should have the right to endanger innocent people's lives because of stubbornness or being in denial.
Meredith Kurz, Setauket
